Through the month of June, Urban Update organized a total of four webinars as part of its ‘E-Dialogues’ series. Different topics, covering varied angles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, were covered through these webinars with the aim of making the public understand the real problems that the world faces during these tough times
The fourth webinar in the Series was titled ‘Virus, Vaccine and Economy’. Covering three of the most relevant points – virus, vaccine and economy, the webinar was aimed at presenting a comprehensible view of the three completely different yet interdependent notions. For this, Urban Update invited Prof Sudipta Sarangi, Head of Department (Economics), Virginia Tech University; Prof Deepankar Basu, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts; Dr Mathew Varghese, Orthopedist, St Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi; Dr Soutmira Pathare, Director, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, Indian Law Society; Rajesh Kumar Jha, Prasar Bharati Special Correspondent, Dhaka and Ashutosh Pandey, Editor and Financial Correspondent, DW Network, Germany. The session was moderated by Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor, Urban Update.
‘The lockdown was aimed towards buying time for the government to prepare itself for handling the pandemic and not to flatten an already ‘flat coronavirus graph’. Simply stopping international flights from virus-hit countries before the lockdown took place could have greatly helped in stopping the virus spread in India and in avoiding prolonged lockdowns. Lastly, though the lockdown was appropriately timed, other precautionary and preparatory measures must have been planned and implemented much earlier than they were actually implemented.’
Dr Mathew Varghese, Public Health Expert
Dhananjay introduced the theme of the webinar and spoke about how coronavirus has affected economies of the world. He went on to talk about how billions of dollars are being pumped into the economies to revive them and to get them ready to produce the required amounts of vaccines, whenever a vaccine is successfully developed. “Billions of dollars are being spent in research for the development of the vaccine but the question remains – when will the vaccine be ready and how effective will it be?”
said Dhananjay.
Taking the discussion forward, Prof Soumitra Sarangi began by saying that though the vaccine trials have begun and the results are promising, the virus is here to stay. The real state of affairs around the world will be visible only after lockdown eases, when people are allowed to move out of their houses and resume economic activities, with certain modifications. “Citizen responsibility plays a vital role in keeping the virus at bay post-lockdown,” Prof Sarangi said. He went on to say that authorities must keep in mind that the effect of prolonged lockdowns will be uneven across different sections of the society, being more pronounced for women and the girl child.
Prof Deepankar Basu was invited next to share his views on the topic. He began by saying that governments around the world need to understand that the global health pandemic cannot be stopped without controlling the economic crisis that has accompanied it. “This is even more important for poor, under-developed and developing countries, where the government does not allocate adequate funds for development of healthcare facilities.” He also pointed out that a straightforward solution to this would be the successful development of a coronavirus vaccine, the chances of which rise daily as more and more vaccine candidates move towards successive levels of vaccine trials. He also pointed out that micro, small and medium industries are the worst-hit in various countries due to the crisis and making credit available to these industries will play a vital role in the eventual revival of the global economy.
Dr Mathew Varghese noted that India has always been on a back-foot in terms of investment in healthcare. “High-income countries are not successful in stopping pandemics because of the availability of a vaccine but because of long-term investments in healthcare, sanitation and proper sewage treatment facilities,” said Dr Varghese. Going on to laud the decision of the government in implementing an early lockdown, Dr Varghese said that the lockdown was aimed towards buying time for the government to prepare itself for handling the pandemic and not to flatten an already ‘flat coronavirus graph’. Simply stopping international flights from virus-hit countries before the lockdown took place could have greatly helped in stopping the virus spread in India and in avoiding prolonged lockdowns.
Lastly, though the lockdown was appropriately timed, other precautionary and preparatory measures must have been planned and implemented much earlier than they were actually implemented. The only way we can survive this pandemic is by observing safety measures, hoping for the development of herd immunity and not solely depending on the development of a vaccine.
Dr Soumitra Pathare talked about mental and psychological issues that people are facing due to the pandemic-induced lockdown and said that the most vulnerable to these issues are those who have pre-existing mental health problems. Supply-chain disruption of medicines and being forced to stay confined to a space without any personal time, along with the stress of uncertainty of their employment together are responsible for their vulnerability. Second in line are those people who barely managed to keep their ‘heads above water’ pre-COVID and due to the lockdown, are now falling sick. For the majority of the remaining people, they have enough internal resources to be able to handle the stress of lockdown easily. “What governments must note is that in the post-pandemic period, a high suicide rate, a greater number of alcohol related problems and higher number of cases of depression are always experienced. The government must ensure that people are confident of the protection of their livelihood and their lifestyle if they wish to avoid a mental health crisis post the COVID pandemic,” said Dr Pathare.
Rajesh Kumar Jha, being a Prasar Bharti Special Correspondent from Bangladesh, explained how the Government of Bangladesh has achieved considerable success in keeping the virus contained, despite the country being an agrarian based developing economy. “The government has, from the beginning, tried to avoid use of the word ‘lockdown’ and has instead opted the term ‘general holiday’. This coupled with the decision of the government to allow its citizens to move out of the densely populated cities before the initiation of the general holiday, helped greatly in avoiding panic and in controlling the virus spread,” said Jha. Moreover, Bangladesh opted for a ‘soft lockdown’ as it realized the importance of the continuation of economic activities to help counter the pandemic. Thus, since the start, industries were allowed to function provided they followed appropriate social behaviour. This helped in slowing the virus spread, stopping the situation from getting out of hand and avoided non-COVID deaths in the country.
Ashutosh Pandey started by explaining how the European Union (EU), despite being a tightly knit alliance of nations, did not play an active role in the beginning. When the pandemic reached the EU, countries began haphazardly erecting borders, restricting supplies and resources and taking one sided measures to contain the virus-spread. It was only later that the European Commission realised that close cooperation among the European nations is the only way to stop the pandemic. Like all other countries, industries in EU countries also faced huge obstacles in functioning and led to a moderate economic crisis. Since countries like Germany had considerable economic room to implement measures, response to the pandemic was uneven across EU countries. France and Germany, the two biggest economies in EU, finally came together to implement an inclusive policy against COVID-19 and have so far managed to mobilise coordinated responses to the virus spread.
The fifth edition of the E-Dialogues series was based on the topic ‘Virus, Spread and Response – As seen from Indian Eyes in Global Metropolises’. Through the Webinar, Urban Update aimed to bring forward stories of front line reporters, people who worked on ground zero throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and worked tirelessly to bring the true picture to the people. As part of the Webinar, Urban Update invited Suvam Pal, Journalist, Beijing; Seema Sirohi, Senior Journalist, Washington DC; Vijay Singh, Journalist and Film maker; Loveena Tandon, Journalist, London; Anwar Ashraf, Journalist, Bonn; Shaneer Siddiqui, Journalist, Dubai and Vidya, Journalist, Mumbai. The session was moderated by Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor, Urban Update.
‘As soon as the virus reached Europe, most of the people with means in the cities moved towards the countryside to avoid contact with the virus. Moreover, the people came together almost instantly to help in producing masks and protective equipment for those affected by the virus or the healthcare and sanitation workers. All in all, an alert public and a rapid response to the virus helped things from getting out of hand in France.’
Vijay Singh, Filmmaker based in France
Dhananjay introduced the topic and said, “Since the past six months, the world has been grappled with the COVID pandemic. Like front line healthcare workers, frontline reporters have put their lives on the line, working in extremely difficult situation to get us the stories of success, triumph, sorrow – the reality.
The first to speak was Suvam Pal who began by talking about how rumours were spreading around China in December 2019 about a new virus spreading violently. However, with the help of news channels and media outlets, the government was able to subside the rumours and avoided panic amongst the people. Till late January, almost 2 months after China reported its first case of coronavirus, the government had not imposed lockdown, banned mass public gatherings or issued SOPs and instructions for people to follow while moving out of their houses. It was only after the USA reported its first case that China considered locking down its cities on January 23. Pal concluded by saying that China’s response to control the COVID-19 pandemic, although eventually successful, was delayed.
The next speaker, Seema Sirohi, pointed out that similar to the case of China, the US too displayed delayed response to the pandemic due to an ignorant state leadership. “Although, officials in the White House knew that the pandemic was deadly and spreading rapidly, President Donald Trump refused to believe their advice and act on the virus spread,” said Sirohi. It was only after projections of the morbidity and mortality rates due to the virus started pouring in that President Trump decided to stop all flights to and from Wuhan and impose a nationwide lockdown. However, due to the upcoming elections, the economy of the country was hurriedly reopened and the lockdown was lifted. This led to a second resurgence in the US with more than 26 states showing uncontrolled spikes in daily
COVID cases.
Vijay Singh, who was invited to speak next, put forth a more positive picture for the audience and talked about how a strong civic sense in the public and awareness about the spread of coronavirus around the world helped the situation from deteriorating further in France. As soon as the virus reached Europe, most of the people with means in the cities moved towards the countryside to avoid contact with the virus. Moreover, the people came together almost instantly to help in producing masks and protective equipment for those affected by the virus or the healthcare and sanitation workers. “All in all, an alert public and a rapid response to the virus helped things from getting out of hand in France,” said Singh.
Loveena Tandon talked about how, although the United Kingdom was able to control the first wave of the novel coronavirus, the attitude of the authorities and consequently of its citizens is still casual towards the possibility of a second wave hitting the country. Loveena said that according to an open letter written by experts, the second wave could hit the country as early as December this year. However, questions are still being raised if the UK is adequately equipped to handle the second wave of coronavirus.
Talking about the benefits of a strong and informed leadership, Anwar Ashraf pointed out that Chancellor Angela Merkel, being a scientist, handled the first response against COVID-19 flawlessly. Ashraf said that although it seemed unbelievable but the government was able to arrange for spare hospital and ICU beds, face masks and personal protective equipment in a span of just 10 days. Moreover, regular press conferences by Chancellor Merkel helped the people in remaining calm amid the pandemic. Lastly, long term investments in the public health infrastructure of the country also played a dominant role. “Due to these reasons, Germany has been quite successful in arresting the virus spread, showing lesser than usual infection and mortality rates,” said Ashraf.
Shaneer Siddiqui explained how the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was successful in exceptionally controlling the coronavirus graph. “One of the biggest contributors to this was the government’s readiness in relaying precise and relevant information timely to the people. Being aware of the situation, the people barely panicked. Moreover, drive in COVID testing facilities and quarantine centres in five star hotels, vacant but complete infrastructure projects and community kitchens helped people to continue living their lives in lockdown, without fear of losing their life or their livelihood,” said Shaneer. Due to this, UAE is already on its way to reopen its economy completely and let its people resume their lives. Shaneer concluded by saying that this has been a milestone for the UAE government.
Being a hotspot of COVID-19 cases in India, Maharashtra, particularly the city of Mumbai, showed a rather delayed response to the pandemic. However, according to Vidya, the authorities were still able to bring the situation under control. One of the reasons for this, said Vidya, was that residents of Asia’s largest slum – Dharavi, moved out of the area in time due to loss of livelihood and fear of the virus. This helped largely in controlling the virus spread in a place where an uncontrolled spread could have spelled disaster for India. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now working on ‘Mission Zero’ with the aim of bringing down the infection rate in the city to zero.
Additionally, the state government has finally realised the importance of extensive testing and begun working towards that. “All in all, the virus spread in still rising in Mumbai but the government has displayed readiness in doing whatever it can in stopping the virus,” said Vidya.
Dhananjay concluded the session by stating that journalists are responsible for collecting and analysing data and presenting a clear, true picture in front of the public. They carry out this responsibility selflessly and efficiently.
The next edition of the ‘E-Dialogues’ series was titled ‘Migration and Education – Where is the solution?’ and focused on how pandemic-induced migration is affecting children’s education and life, particularly the girl child. The panel for this edition consisted of Sanjay Singh, Senior Journalist and Child Rights Activist; Prof Angela Taneja, Lead and Specialist (Education and Inequality), Oxfam India; Prof Ravi Kumar, Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Prof R Govinda, Former Vice-Chancellor, National University of Education Planning; Prof (Dr) Mukesh Kanaskar, Director, AIILSG International Centre of Equi-T; Vagish K Jha, Academic Lead, Schoolnet India andSourav Banerjee, Country Director, Room to Read. The session was moderated by Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor, Urban Update.
‘Less than 15 per cent rural households in India have access to both a computer and an internet connection. Thus, shifting instantly to online modes of education is far-fetched and unrealistic and will take a considerable amount of time before being completed. In terms of migrants during a pandemic, the problem of education has more to do with an economic divide, a class divide and a cultural divide, than with the girl child in particular. Thus, the government must focus on investing sensibly in the education sector if it aims to take education services online.’
Prof Angela Taneja, Lead and Specialist (Education and Inequality), Oxfam India
“Crisis breeds discrimination,” said Sanjay Singh, and continued talking about how the girl child is at the bottom of the discrimination ladder, how they are the last to be thought of. Singh said that this situation worsens in times of a pandemic. He cited the findings of a study titled ‘Young Lives Study’ by the Oxford University while saying that around 80 per cent of the girls in the state of Telangana do not have access to internet services or have even seen a computer ever. In such a situation, the sudden shift towards online methods of teaching could breed disaster for the education services in most countries. However, governments are now moving towards widening the internet reach in their countries, aiming to make technology available to the remotest villages. “If done efficiently, this will eventually help children, particularly girl child, in continuing with their education despite the adverse effects of the pandemic,’ said Singh.
Prof Angela Taneja began by saying that the government’s reliance on information technology is bizarre, especially at a time like this. Citing government data, Prof Taneja said that less than 15 per cent rural households in India have access to both a computer and an internet connection. Thus, shifting instantly to online modes of education is far-fetched and unrealistic and will take a considerable amount of time before being completed. “In terms of migrants during a pandemic, the problem of education has more to do with an economic divide, a class divide and a cultural divide, than with the girl child in particular. Thus, the government must focus on investing sensibly in the education sector if it aims to take education services online.
Prof Ravi Kumar spoke about how policy makers and experts are looking at the pandemic-hit education sector in a ‘dehistoricised manner’ and are not considering the effects of poor development and inadequate investments on the education sector in the past. Coupled with this, the migration to rural areas induced by the pandemic and the following reverse migration due to absence of job opportunities in rural areas is having profound effects on the children’s education. “They have no access to technology and with the shutting down of all educational institutions in the country, their hopes of being able to educate themselves are quickly fading away,” said Prof Kumar. Thus, whether a child will be able to get access to education in the near future not only depends on their geographical position but also on the economic position of its family.
‘COVID-19 has disrupted an education infrastructure that was already in a bad-shape,” said Prof R Govinda. However, during the pandemic, the effect of a poor education infrastructure is all-pervasive and has not only affected the poor but children from all sections of the society. Prof Govinda said that although the government is planning a shift towards online education, it is not an effective method of education. He then went on to talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the widespread poverty in India, despite claims of India being an influentially big economy in the world. It is because of this uneven, widespread poverty that online education is least likely to be successful and the government must think of local and not a common solution to the problems of education.
Prof Mukesh Kanaskar said that although the problem of education due to the pandemic-induced migration is quite recent, the problem has existed for the tribal and backward societies of India since centuries. Considering that India has an extremely large tribal population, close to 107 million, the task at hand is big and needs long term planning, investment and efforts by the government. Here, what must be noted is that there is not ‘one solution for all’ aspect but ‘every problem has a different solution’ aspect attached to it.
Vagish K Jha began speaking by talking about how children of migrant workers are always given second preference in the schooling system, whether in terms of government policies or in terms of activities carried out by schools. This is mainly due to their ‘migrant’ nature of stay where they keep moving between cities and villages to work throughout the year. “Thus, they were at a disadvantage anyway, irrespective of the pandemic,” he said. Jha went on to say that this time must be seen as an opportunity for the government to carry out educational reforms where students are made to think creatively and out-of-the-box, to explore the world in their own way. Lastly, the aspect of online classrooms has also affected the teachers, who may have never been trained on how to work with online platforms for teaching.
According to Sourav Banerjee, the problem of migration brings with it the problem of language for the children. When their families migrate, either back to their village or to another city, the children are forced to learn in a different language than what they have been taught in till now. This is more pronounced for children from families that practice seasonal migration. Here, COVID-19 has only added another layer of problems to children’s education. Forced migration to rural areas for indefinite periods stop the schools from enrolling these children and makes it difficult for the children too to adjust to the sudden changes.
The session was concluded by Dhananjay who said that the one thing all panelists can agree upon is that India’s education sector required massive amounts of work by the government, if the government plans to make education ‘inclusive for all’.
The seventh edition of the ‘E-Dialogues’ series was based on the topic ‘COVID Fighters – Enabling Safe Working Conditions for Sanitation Workers’ and aimed to bring forward the problems faced by sanitation workers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the government can ensure safe working conditions for them. The panel for this edition consisted of Depinder Kapoor, Team Lead, Sanitation Capacity Building Platform, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA); Sanjay Kumar, Senior Sanitation Expert; Dr Amiya Kumar Sahu, President, National Solid Waste Association of India (NSWAI); Uttam Banerjee, Co-Founder and CEO, Ekam Eco Solutions and Nitu Joseph, Senior Assistant Manager (Operations), Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group. The session was moderated by Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor, Urban Update.
“Majority of issues faced by sanitation workers have amplified during the pandemic, when they are forced to work without protective equipment or proper training to stay safe from COVID-19,” said Kapur. But, before the government can plan policies for their help and safety, they need to know how many sanitation workers are currently employed throughout the country.
Depinder Kapoor, Team Lead, Sanitation Capacity Building Platform, NIUA
Dhananjay invited Depinder Kapur as the first speaker who talked about the problems faced by sanitation workers and what NIUA has done to solve these problems. “Majority of issues faced by sanitation workers have amplified during the pandemic, when they are forced to work without protective equipment or proper training to stay safe from COVID-19,” said Kapur. But, before the government can plan policies for their help and safety, they need to know how many sanitation workers are currently employed throughout the country. This data is still missing in India. Sanjay Kumar reiterated this shortcoming and said that absence of comprehensive data on sanitation workers plays a huge role in the plight they face since decades. Being mostly a part of the unorganized sector, it is unlikely that data on their employment will be compiled in the near future. Thus, absence of data translates into absence of welfare schemes and policies to uplift them.
Moreover, even if these workers manage to reach out for help, there is no dedicated organisation for their help, for addressing their issues and to reach out to them even in normal circumstances, let alone during a pandemic.
Dr Amiya Sahu explained how, after visiting various countries, he realised that India was a country where sewage management was given least priority since a long time. Thus, he planned on starting NSWAI to work towards bettering this aspect of public life in India. Though there were organisations functioning parallel to NSWAI who worked towards the same aim, but the actual on ground work done by them was not adequate. Moreover, the reality was that a considerable proportion of these sanitation workers hired on a daily basis almost never worked seriously due to lack of training and sufficient wages. Thus, the condition of sanitation sector in India is grim and is not likely to get better anytime soon.
Nitu Joseph, citing a study conducted by Chintan, pointed out that around 71 per cent of the people who work behind the curtains in the sanitation sector are women. Although waste collectors got PPE kits from the government during the pandemic, same was not the case with these women working to segregate waste. Working with plastic throughout the day, unbeknownst to the fact that coronavirus particles are active on plastic surfaces for long durations of time, they remained vulnerable to the disease. Being engaged in other domestic activities, these women automatically pose as threats to the rest of their families, putting them at risk of being infected with COVID-19 as well.
Uttam Banerjee took the discussion forward by talking about another problem the sanitation workers face in India – the problem of lack of awareness about waste segregation at the source. In India, till the onset of the pandemic, household waste was only categorised into ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ waste. However, the pandemic made the government realise that household waste can be a bio hazard too. This has helped in giving impetus to awareness amongst the people regarding waste segregation and proper disposal and will go a long way in improving the state of sanitation in the country.
Dhananjay concluded the session by stating that the state of India’s sanitation workers cannot be improved in a matter of days or months. Constant support, serious efforts and large-scale investments by the government, authorities and other organisations are required in order to ensure betterment and safety of the sanitation workers.
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